Well, I think the appearance is now mostly to my liking. I definitely like having a wider space for the blog text- it bugs me when blogs (my blog, at least) have these great big margins on either side so that the text only takes up about a third of the width of the screen. It just seems squashed to me. Anyway, the banner is a bit gritty looking, but I'll wait and see how much it bothers me in the next couple of days to decide whether or not to do something about it.
I found a couple of drawings the other day that I had started, and then lost momentum on, back in the fall. I had completely forgotten about them, and was happy to make their acquaintence again. Two are half-finished, and the third is something small that I just kind of doodled- the word "word". Typography is fun, and even more so when drawn by hand because you can custom-make each word so that the letters are in perfect harmony with each other. Well, that's the goal, but I can't boast about having ever achieved that myself. By the way, I'm listening to "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel" on cd, with a British guy narrating it, and consequently my thought-voice has a British accent. So as I think of what I'm typing, a British voice is narrating in my head. Oh, one more thing, while I'm speaking of voices in my head- if I listen to books on cd long enough in a day, I'll have that narrator's voice stuck in my head. Not actual words, but just the sound of the voice. It's kind of weird, like having random snippets of music stuck in your head...except it's someone's voice. Weird.
Anyway, I'm sure that some famous type designers would be horrified by my enjoyment of "custom-made" words, but others wouldn't. I don't know what the point of that last sentence was supposed to be.
I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of July. Seriously- it boggles my mind.
Well, have a good day! Toodleoo* for now.
* This was the answer to one of the clues in the WSJ crossword this weekend. I was amused.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
New book #2
Awwww...isn't it cute? This is the tiniest of the three books I made recently, measuring just 3.25 inches high and 2.75 inches wide. The limey-green headbands contrast nicely with the book cloth, and have a slight orangey-yellow iridescent quality to them as well.Go, little book! Make me proud on Etsy! :)
Two other things- 1) I am going to change the appearance of this blog sooner hopefully rather than later- it's looking too cluttered and I don't like the brown design very much any more. It doesn't look good with all the pictures I post. 2) To make it easier for those of you who read this blog and don't want to have to switch back and forth between one person's two blogs, I am going to blog as I used to in this one, and then copy whatever artsy things I might write about here and paste it in the artsy blog. That way you'll be sure to not miss anything. :)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Time.
Time is weird. Days go fast, and then they go slow. Time goes fast when I'm doing certain things, and then nearly stops when I (try to) do others. I wish it would hurry up with this, and slow down with that. And it always does the exact opposite of what I want.
Well, that's enough of that. I have a new tiny book up for sale on etsy. Yaaaay tiny book!
Well, that's enough of that. I have a new tiny book up for sale on etsy. Yaaaay tiny book!
In other artistic endeavors, I designed an afghan pattern for my landlady, who's going to use it to make a Christmas gift for her son :)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
A few random things
1) I don’t know why I think about these movies so often, but for some reason I find myself reflecting on the Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13 films now and then, and though I really enjoyed them, there are a few things that really kind of shock me. Today I thought of another. So something that really struck me was the end of Ocean’s 12, where everyone is celebrating their victory in thieving by gambling and drinking together. It’s a scene of contentment, comfort, and genuine fun…inextricably linked with the booze and gambling, as well as the plot that drew them all together in the first place. Isn’t that kind of a weird message to send? I don’t think anyone who enjoyed the movie is going to immediately equate stealing, drinking, and gambling as equaling good and wholesome things, but still…odd message.
The other strange thing I just now realized was before that, before the viewer knows that everything is going to work out “ok” for the protagonists. I don’t want to give too much away, but in this one, as well as the others, there are some extreme perversions of justice going on. Policemen, detectives, and other figures who are supposed to be upholding the law are actually subverting it for Ocean and his buddies. In the film, this makes them “good guys”, but in real life, they’re undermining the justice system- engaging in criminal activity. Corruption in the justice system is wide-spread and serious, so I’m surprised that it’s indulged in these three fairly popular films.
2) Well, there was something designated for the 2 spot, but I don’t remember what it was. So I’ll go on to 3…
3) I encountered a great mystery yesterday morning. Walking back from the exercise room along 12th street (in Claremont), I had to stop and make way for ducks. A female duck and a half dozen or so ducklings (sooo…cuuuuuute….) had waddled casually up to the end of Columbia and were crossing from Scripps into Harvey Mudd. Where did they come from?? Where were they going??? It would make sense if there was any sort of water, aside from ornamental fountains, anywhere in Claremont, and how they had obviously set up a nest somewhere, remained undisturbed enough to hatch ducklings, find food, etc….I simply do not understand. It was an adorable little group. The mother duck ignored me completely and led her brood along the crosswalk as if they did this every day.
Ah! Now I remember!
2) I’m listening to an audio version of “Atonement”. The protagonist (or antagonist, depending on how you look at her), Briony, writes a play at the age of 13 entitled “The Trials of Arabella”. Now, Briony is a bit of Quixote- self-absorbed, histrionic, makes mountains out of molehills, is the star of her own little world. I wonder if it’s just coincidence that her protagonist (who is a reflection of herself) shares the name of another Arabella from “The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella” by Charlotte Lennox (informative link). I had to read this obscure little novel (written in 1752) for an English class I took at Pomona. And I hated this novel, which of course is why I remember it so well. If it’s intentional, then I am impressed. If it isn’t, then it’s just a funny coincidence, I guess.
The end!
The other strange thing I just now realized was before that, before the viewer knows that everything is going to work out “ok” for the protagonists. I don’t want to give too much away, but in this one, as well as the others, there are some extreme perversions of justice going on. Policemen, detectives, and other figures who are supposed to be upholding the law are actually subverting it for Ocean and his buddies. In the film, this makes them “good guys”, but in real life, they’re undermining the justice system- engaging in criminal activity. Corruption in the justice system is wide-spread and serious, so I’m surprised that it’s indulged in these three fairly popular films.
2) Well, there was something designated for the 2 spot, but I don’t remember what it was. So I’ll go on to 3…
3) I encountered a great mystery yesterday morning. Walking back from the exercise room along 12th street (in Claremont), I had to stop and make way for ducks. A female duck and a half dozen or so ducklings (sooo…cuuuuuute….) had waddled casually up to the end of Columbia and were crossing from Scripps into Harvey Mudd. Where did they come from?? Where were they going??? It would make sense if there was any sort of water, aside from ornamental fountains, anywhere in Claremont, and how they had obviously set up a nest somewhere, remained undisturbed enough to hatch ducklings, find food, etc….I simply do not understand. It was an adorable little group. The mother duck ignored me completely and led her brood along the crosswalk as if they did this every day.
Ah! Now I remember!
2) I’m listening to an audio version of “Atonement”. The protagonist (or antagonist, depending on how you look at her), Briony, writes a play at the age of 13 entitled “The Trials of Arabella”. Now, Briony is a bit of Quixote- self-absorbed, histrionic, makes mountains out of molehills, is the star of her own little world. I wonder if it’s just coincidence that her protagonist (who is a reflection of herself) shares the name of another Arabella from “The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella” by Charlotte Lennox (informative link). I had to read this obscure little novel (written in 1752) for an English class I took at Pomona. And I hated this novel, which of course is why I remember it so well. If it’s intentional, then I am impressed. If it isn’t, then it’s just a funny coincidence, I guess.
The end!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
the Krispix blog
is now up and running. The first post may look pretty familiar...I basically copied and pasted most of the previous entry :) Visit artblog.kknaebel.com.
Monday, June 9, 2008
An actual art-related update
I finished two commissions recently! One is a very, very large drawing (one of the largest I’ve ever done), and the other is small. I used the same rapidograph for both (.35). You can find images of both projects in the gallery.
The larger drawing was for a friend who approached me to do a commission celebrating her friend’s graduation from his Masters program. She gave me his 50-page thesis, which I shrank down to about 25 pages (by removing all excess spacing) and proceeded to write out by hand. The recipient’s name, Rippi, appears in the white design at the center. The thesis was about outsourcing in India- the history, present state, and future well-being of this huge industry as it applies to the people and nation of India.
The smaller drawing was commissioned by a cousin of mine. He gave me the dimensions he wanted, and then told me to do pretty much whatever I wanted for the design and colors. I was considering orange for the central swathe, but didn’t feel daring enough to do it. I think the drawing has a kind of oriental feel, and the curve of the central swirly thing sort of reminded me of a tiger stripe. Again, I didn’t have the guts to risk it (I’d left that part for last), but I don’t regret doing the red at all.
I’m in the process of putting together a blog for art-related things only, the link to which I will be able to post on etsy without feeling like I’m revealing my whole life to complete strangers. This blog will be used to post things about the commissions and various projects I’m working on, (art) things that I like and am inspired by, and if I can force myself to do so, that’ll be about it. I’ll try keep up with this blog, for sure, and you are all invited to visit the new art-only blog once it’s set up.
I am thiiiiis close to finishing a super-cool little journal I made using my very own, hand-painted, home-made bookcloth. I think it looks awesome :) It was my first time making bookcloth, and I was nervous that the method I used would fail. What makes bookcloth bookcloth is this property where when you put glue on the “wrong” side (the side that’s glued to boards to make covers) of the fabric, the wetness of the glue doesn’t seep through the cloth. If you used plain old cotton, for example, the glue would soak straight through the cloth and be very very visible when it dried. When you get glue on bookcloth, it dries darker than the fabric and looks terrible. Even the smallest bit of it is visible. I made my bookcloth by fusing painted cotton to a piece of tissue paper, using iron-on fusing material. I found a tutorial online, but I forget where. Before painting and fusing the cloth to the tissue paper, I “drew” on it using washable white glue, let it dry, and then painted on the cloth with acrylic paints (a method my mother calls “cheater’s batik”). You let the paint dry, and then soak it in warm soapy water for a while, to get the glue to dissolve. Where the glue had been, you get white lines. This technique is great for things that will never/rarely be washed, because the acrylics will fade. Unfortunately, this method will not work very well when actual fabric paint is substituted for the acrylic, based on my attempts to do so. I’ll post pictures when this book is finished, so you can see the effect.
Gotta go. Have a good Monday.
The larger drawing was for a friend who approached me to do a commission celebrating her friend’s graduation from his Masters program. She gave me his 50-page thesis, which I shrank down to about 25 pages (by removing all excess spacing) and proceeded to write out by hand. The recipient’s name, Rippi, appears in the white design at the center. The thesis was about outsourcing in India- the history, present state, and future well-being of this huge industry as it applies to the people and nation of India.
The smaller drawing was commissioned by a cousin of mine. He gave me the dimensions he wanted, and then told me to do pretty much whatever I wanted for the design and colors. I was considering orange for the central swathe, but didn’t feel daring enough to do it. I think the drawing has a kind of oriental feel, and the curve of the central swirly thing sort of reminded me of a tiger stripe. Again, I didn’t have the guts to risk it (I’d left that part for last), but I don’t regret doing the red at all.
I’m in the process of putting together a blog for art-related things only, the link to which I will be able to post on etsy without feeling like I’m revealing my whole life to complete strangers. This blog will be used to post things about the commissions and various projects I’m working on, (art) things that I like and am inspired by, and if I can force myself to do so, that’ll be about it. I’ll try keep up with this blog, for sure, and you are all invited to visit the new art-only blog once it’s set up.
I am thiiiiis close to finishing a super-cool little journal I made using my very own, hand-painted, home-made bookcloth. I think it looks awesome :) It was my first time making bookcloth, and I was nervous that the method I used would fail. What makes bookcloth bookcloth is this property where when you put glue on the “wrong” side (the side that’s glued to boards to make covers) of the fabric, the wetness of the glue doesn’t seep through the cloth. If you used plain old cotton, for example, the glue would soak straight through the cloth and be very very visible when it dried. When you get glue on bookcloth, it dries darker than the fabric and looks terrible. Even the smallest bit of it is visible. I made my bookcloth by fusing painted cotton to a piece of tissue paper, using iron-on fusing material. I found a tutorial online, but I forget where. Before painting and fusing the cloth to the tissue paper, I “drew” on it using washable white glue, let it dry, and then painted on the cloth with acrylic paints (a method my mother calls “cheater’s batik”). You let the paint dry, and then soak it in warm soapy water for a while, to get the glue to dissolve. Where the glue had been, you get white lines. This technique is great for things that will never/rarely be washed, because the acrylics will fade. Unfortunately, this method will not work very well when actual fabric paint is substituted for the acrylic, based on my attempts to do so. I’ll post pictures when this book is finished, so you can see the effect.
Gotta go. Have a good Monday.
Friday, June 6, 2008
done
mission accomplished.
happy friday, by the way. and i hope it's as beautiful outside wherever you are as it is here.
this post was not first written in ms word and then copied to blogger, hence the lack of proper capitalization. just wanted to let you know, in case you feared that some imposter had taken over my blog :) (although, as many of you know, my emails almost never contain proper capitalization, so to you i say that blogposts containing these foreign characteristics are, in fact, also written by me).
toodle-oo.
happy friday, by the way. and i hope it's as beautiful outside wherever you are as it is here.
this post was not first written in ms word and then copied to blogger, hence the lack of proper capitalization. just wanted to let you know, in case you feared that some imposter had taken over my blog :) (although, as many of you know, my emails almost never contain proper capitalization, so to you i say that blogposts containing these foreign characteristics are, in fact, also written by me).
toodle-oo.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)